Nude on a Divan

Amedeo Modigliani

National Gallery of Art

A nude woman lying across a brown divan in front of a russet-red wall is loosely painted with areas of mottled color in this horizontal composition. The woman fills the wide canvas so her head is angled into the upper left corner, and her legs extend off the right edge of the composition below the knees. Her long, oval face rests back against the couch, and she looks at us with slitted, almond-shaped eyes under dark, shallowly arched brows. She has a long, straight nose, flushed cheeks, a double chin, and her pink lips are closed. Her breasts fall to each side so we only see the pink nipple closer to us. She has a rounded belly and a triangle of brown hair at her groin. Her arms rest alongside her body. The couch has a low, upholstered arms sweeping down the sides. Black lines in the red wall behind the couch suggest molding or cabinetry. The artist signed the painting in the upper right corner, “modigliani.”